17 February 2012

Dont we just love pointing fingers!

It has happened again. Someone famous is in the limelight. For all the wrong reasons. He is getting a lot of bashing for it. So many people are out to express their disgust at him. I would too, if I didnt know better. Not to say that I agree one bit with what he has done. But I am not worthy to condemn. Really. Let me explain.

In the journey of life, we have been to places that we should not have gone to. Done things we should not have done. And it might not have seemed such a big deal to us when we did that. Perhaps we did not mean to go as far as we did. But it happened.

We are all quick to point fingers at others. I believe it is the human way to try and justify that we are not as bad. It is our way of shifting attention from ourselves. Surely our faults cant be as bad. And so we go ahead and condemn others. That one is a drunkard. Or a liar. Or of loose morals. Forgeting that placing a label on another has a lasting negative effect on them. And that most of us are no better. It is just that we got a second chance to better our lives.

I believe that noone desires to be of bad or evil repute. We all desire to be good. And that is why so many try to camouflage their bad side. But when it does come out like all evil does, then the reaction that comes with it will either make or break us. Acceptance and seeking a way forward often helps. So does trying to get to the root of the issue. Or better still involving a higher power. God.

Someone once told me the Henry Ford story. Once there was this man whose truck broke down. In the worst of places. And so he was standing out in that lonely place when this old man drives up to him and inquires of the problem. He was reluctant to let him in on the issue wondering what this old man could do afterall. But he tells him anyway. Not realising that he was speaking to the maker of the truck. How I wish we would all take life's problems to the author  of life. He will fix it all for us.

Most issues in our lives do not have a justifiable reason. They just happen. We make wrong choices not because of wrong upbringing or lack of else. Or we go ahead and flirt with something seemingly so harmless that lands us in the worst corner we can find ourselves in. All the ways of life.

I find that the way we live our lives is based on who it is that is with us in the journey. Because we tend to conform to the authority in our lives. There are those that are bent on the ways of the world. Anything goes, as long as noone gets hurt. Or finds out. Then there are those of us that conform to Christ. And accept his leading. Yes we do commit sin. And go off the way sometimes. But we are quick to seek to repair our relationship with God and continue in his leading.

And so I do not jump to judge. Because that person who made that grievious mistake is deserving of Mercy just like all of us. Rather than throw sticks and stones at him, I try to hear him out. Though not literally. What it is that could have led him to do what he did. And then I condemn that act of course. But I will not dwell on it. Rub it in. None of this helps.

Many people have had a turnaround of their lives from bad to good. I believe noone would bother trying to patch up their lives when all around him are crying foul. Those of us that did a turnaround did so because someone believed in us enough to see some good even when all others were baying out. That person who bandaged our wounds and set us on our feet again.

If we took time to help a brother up after a fall it would bring much change to the situation. Even the most hardened of hearts is moved by love. And so we might try showing more love to those who do not deserve of it. That way bring them to a point of remorse that might be their turning point. Might not work always but it is worth a try. Afterall when you think of it, which one of us does not have a dark closet. Which one of us is not deserving of mercy? Let the one who has not sinned cast the first stone. I rest my case.

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